Hillsborough commissioners may strip EPG of all responsibilities

TAMPA, Fla. - Hillsborough County’s Board of County Commissioners is moving closer to dissolving the Emergency Policy Group, but a public hearing and final vote still has to take place next month.

The EPG is a task force that includes several commissioners, plus the sheriff, the school board chair, and the mayors of the county’s three cities. The group is tasked with handling the county’s response to crises like hurricanes, but they have also been managing the COVID-19 pandemic efforts.

Litigation over the group’s mandatory-mask ordinance has raised questions about the legality of their orders, and EPG chair Les Miller suggested the group be disbanded due to conflict-of-interest issues with enforcement.

The commissioners had previously discussed keeping the EPG intact but having them focus only on hurricane response, but that changed during Tuesday's meeting. The board voted unanimously to move forward with language that would strip the EPG of all of their responsibilities.

Should that happen, ordinances created under the EPG would remain in effect and be transferred over to the Board of County Commissioners.

The commission still has to take public input before a final vote next month.